Folding wall



Ot. 30, 1962 M- GRECO 3,060,521

FOLDING WALL Filed June 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. E) v`"45 MICHAEL GRECO Oct. 30, 1962 Filed June 29, 1960 M. GRECO FOLDING WALL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENToR. f MICHAEL GRECO United States Patent Ollce 3,060,521 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 3,069,521 FLDING WALL Michael Greco, 42 W. 13th St., New York, N .Y. Filed June 29, 1960, Ser. No. 39,661 Claims. (Cl. Ztl-4) This invention relates to folding wall panels adapted lfor storage into a minimum of space.

It is an object of this invention to provide rigid wall panels used, for example, in dividing one large room into two smaller rooms.

It is another object to provide wall panels which may be swung through a right angle and thereby be stored at a right angle in linear relationship to the Wall line.

It is a further object to provide moveable Wall panels individually rotated about a rear vertical edge.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following descriptive disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the wall panels stored at a right angle to the wall line dividing the room,

FIG. 2 is a section view of the bottom roller wheel assembly disposed in a floor guide rail and showing an adjustable bump pin protruding from the rear longitudinal edge oi wall panel,

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, showing a top assembly slidably disposed in a ceiling guide rail and showing the top pivot and locking element with a pair of doors in section, disposed at a right angle to a door disposed linearly in said top guide rail,

FIG. 4 is a View taken on line 4--4 of FIG. 3 showing the inclined plane receiving element of a panel mounted slidingly on the top guide rail and further showing a detent spring-loaded ball in said inclined plane for captively retaining a co-acting receiving element disposed on an adjacent panel,

FIG. 5 is a section view of a rear roller assembly showing the relationship of the wall panel when in a stored condition at a right angle to the floor guide rail,

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a striker plate secured to the floor for arresting the rotation of a panel to ninety degrees, and showing in outline the manner of electing such an arrest,

FIG. 7 is a plan View of a co-acting striker plate secured to the ceiling and adapted for engaging a round pin disposed in the rearmost portion of the top edge of a panel,

FIG. 8 is a front View of a panel in a bumped position, showing the manner of bump lifting the roller assembly guide plate at the front edge of a panel out of the bottom guide rail, L

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a two piece modified striker plate disposed in the ceiling and adapted to receive a pair of arresting pins disposed in the rear portion of the top edge of a wall panel and showing the manner of locking such a door in such a striker plate, and

FIG. l0 is a perspective view of the modilied striker plate showing the manner of making it.

Turning to the drawing, a plurality of individual wall panels 16 are provided with a front 11 (FIG. 8) and a rear 12 roller assembly each having a guide plate normally disposed in a bottom guide rail 13.

A top slideway assembly 14 is slidably disposed in a ceiling guide rail 15. The assembly 14 is provided with slide plate l16 rigidly secured in spaced relationship by a rod 17 to a block 18 having a rigid depending pivot rod 19.

To effect a storing of the wall panels from a linear panel to panel or wall relationship to a stored relationship wherein the panels are disposed in parallel relationship (FIG. l) it is necessary for the guide plate Z0 of the front roller assembly 111 to be elevated or raised above the floor 21 (FIG. 8).

To produce this result the bottom rear edge of each panel is provided with an adjustable bump pin 22 which upon striking a vertical surface with suflicient force will cause the front guide plate 20 of the front roller assembly 11 to be raised above the plane of the lioor 21.

Furthermore, in order to raise the front guide plate 2i) above the `lloor, the top rear edge of the panels 10 are provided with a slidable assembly having a novel lockpivot block 18.

Block 1S is integral with rods 17 and 19 and also with the slide plate 16. `As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the slide' plate 16 is slidably hung onto a pair of opposed inwardly disposed flanges 24 of the ceiling rail 15 which is secured to the ceiling by conventional screws. As shown in the drawing, block 18 is provided with an integral rear lip 25 having an ascending bottom wall 26 in which there is disposed a hemi-spherical cavity 27.

Block Il is also provided `with a front lip 28 having an ascending top wall 29. Front lip 28 is also provided with a suitable aperture in which a conventional springloaded ball detent assembly l30 is disposed.

As shown in IFIG. 3, the inclined wall 26 of a block 13 in a moving linearly disposed panel 10 is slidingly forced to ride up on the inclined wall 29 of an adjacent stored stationary panel 10 disposed at a right angle to said moving panel.

' The combined eect of the linear bump force of a panel and its pin 22 on a stored panel is to rock or rotate the moving panel on its rear roller wheel 31 so that the front guide plate 20 is raised above the floor surface 21.

Simultaneously with this linear limited rotation of the panel 10 on Wheel 31, the block 18 rear inclined Wall 26 slides on the stationary inclined Wall 29 of the adjacent and stored panel 10, already turned at ninety degrees to the guide rail 13 and the ceiling rail 15. The sliding of inclined Wall 26 of one block on the inclined Wall 29 of an adjacent block continues until the cavity 27 of the Wall `26 engages the ball of the ball detent 30, thereby effecting a locking of adjacent blocks, permitting pivoted rotation of the linear panel through an angle of ninety degrees to permit parallel storing of the panels.

Thus the panels '10 of a multi-panel -Wall are individually pushed linearly to effect a bumping action and its consequent results, whereupon the linear panel can then be turned on the top pivot rod 19 and the bottom pivot rod 35 to a stored position disposed at a right angle to the -guide rail 13.

As also shown in FIG. 3, rod 19 of theslideway assem-bly 14 is disposed slidingly in a cavity in the rear of the top panel edgepreferably in a metal tube 36 disposed in a securing plate 37 secured by screws in the top edge of the panel. Plate 37 is provided with a fixed upright striker pin 38 for suitable engagement with a striker plate 39 (FIG. 7) disposed in the ceiling adjacent the rear part of ceiling rail 15.

The plate 39 is provided with a plurality of suitably spaced-apart channels, each for receiving a pin 38 of a respective wall panel 10, thereby disposing the turned panels in stored relationship at ninety degrees to the ceiling rail 1'5 since the turning of the panel in pivot rod I19 is arrested when the panel pin 38 hits the channel wall 49X after executing a turn of ninety degrees.

Similarly the turning of the bottom of panel 10 is arrested by means of a floor striker plate 4t) (FIG. 5) identical to the top striker plate 39. To obtain this result the rear vertical wall of each panel 10 is provided with a depending half round arresting plate 42 extending suitably below the bottom edge of each panel and above the door 21 (FIG. 5) to engage a channel wall of the floor striker 3 plate 40 after the panel 10 has been turned ninety degrees to assume its stored position.

Plate 4Z may be a separate plate, or it may be made integral with the conventional rear roller assembly 12. Clearly in the operation of this invention, the guide plate 43 of the roller assembly 12 is at all times disposed in the oor guide rail 13, but the front guide plate is disposed above the floor rail 13 during storage and during the process of turning7 the panels prior to storing them.

The stored panels 10 disposed in parallel relationship using a top striker plate 39 and a co-acting bottom striker plater 40 are substantially free of motion or play.

However, to lock the stored panels in an immovable manner in parallel relationship an improved top striker plate combination 50 and 50X is provided, which combination consists of two separate units 50 and 50X coacting with locking pins 51 and 52 disposed in the top edge of the panel 10, the guide ceiling rail being disposed dependingly from the ceiling and the unit plates 50 and 50X being suitably positioned on opposed sides of said rail 15 and then secured thereto as by screws (FIG. 10).

In using a combination plate 50 and 50X the plate 37 disposed in the rear of the top edge of a panel 10 is provided with a pair of Xed lock pins, namely a front lock pin 51 and a rear pin 52. The plate 50 is provided with a plurality of suitably spaced curved keyway slots 53 adapted to receive rear pin 52 at the apex of the slot when the panel has been turned ninety degrees. The co-acting plate 50X is provided with a plurality of suitably spaced curved channels 55 adapted to receive front lock pin 51 while the rear pin 52 is being engaged by the walls of slot 53.

As shown in FIG. 9 the pins 51 and 52 simultaneously rotate about the pivot rod 19 of each panel slidingly engaging the respective wall of the slot and channel until the panel is turned ninety degrees to the length of plates 50 and 50X. In this turned stored position, pin 51 rests against an outside upright edge S6 of plate 50X while pin 52 is locked against the upright wall of the edges of slot 53 at the apex of the slot. Thus the panel 10 in its stored position is rigidly and immovably held in place.

This invention has been described by means of an illustrative embodiment but clearly the inventive scientic principle employed is not limited to this illustration but only by the claims herein.

I claim:

1. A folding wall mechanism comprising a plurality of rigid vertically disposed rectangular panels; a flanged ceiling guide rail; a floor guide rail having a slot therein disposed beneath said ceiling guide rail; front roller means secured adjacent the front of the bottom edge of said panel, said roller means having a suitable guide plate normally disposed in said slot of said oor rail; rear roller means disposed pivotally in the rear of the bottom edge of said panel, said rear roller means having a guide plate disposed at all times in said slot of said oor rail; a suitable bump pin disposed adjacent the bottom of the rear edge of said panel; integral rigid slide means disposed captively and suspendingly in said ceiling rail and having a spaced apart depending block with a front lip having an upright inclined plane having a -ball detent therein said block having a rear lip having a depending inclined plane having a cavity therein adapted to receive a ball detent, said block also having a depending rod pivotally journaled in the top edge of said panel adjacent its rear edge whereby linear movement of said panel in said guide rails during storing to effect a bump of said bump pin causes said panel to rotate limitedly about said rear wheel means thereby causing the guide plate of said front wheel means to jump out of said slot above the floor and the rear. cavity containing lip of said block of said slideable assembly of said panel is caused simultaneously to ride up the inclined wall of an adacent block to effect a locking engagement with a ball detent therein whereupon rotation of the tilted panel through ninety degrees from a linear into stored relationship is effected.

2. The device of claim l comprising a pair of striker plates having suitable slots therein one of said plates being secured to the ceiling adjacent the storage end of the ceiling rail and the other of said plates being secured therebeneath to the floor adjacent the storage end of the oor rail, and a pair of striker pin elements secured to said panel adjacent its rear vertical edge for entering said slots, said pin elements being arrested from rotational movement by engagement with the respective slot wall of a striker plate after panel rotation of about ninety degrees.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein a supplementary striker plate having curved channels therein is secured to the ceiling in opposed relationship to said ceiling striker plate having slots therein and with the ceiling rail therebetween, and where in a pair of spaced-apart pins are vertically disposed in the top edge of said panel, whereby said pins respectively engage simultaneously a slot wall of said striker plate and a channel wall of said supplementary plate to effect a rigid captive rotation of the tilted panel about its rear vertical edge into a rigid locked position when in a stored position.

4. The mechanism of claim l wherein the ceiling rail is provided with a pair of opposed spaced-apart inwardly disposed anges and wherein said slide means comprises a top plate disposed slidingly upon said llanges, said block and said slide plate being connected in spaced relationship by a suitable xed rod.

5. The mechanism of claim 2 wherein one of said striker pin elements is a half round plate disposed suitably in the bottom portion of the panel rear Wall and wherein the other striker pin element is a fixed upright rod disposed in a plate piece secured to the top edge of said panel, said plate piece having an aperture to receive the depending rod of said slide means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 246,286 Brinton Aug. 30, 1881 2,052,089 Fairhurst Ang. 25, 1936 2,976,582 Rosenthal Mar. 28, 1961 

